#robert dallek

[deadpresidents]

Tangentially presidential, but do you have recommendations for biographies of Clarence Thomas and/or Henry Kissinger?

I don't have any suggestions for books about Thomas, but I can recommend a bunch on Kissinger. I think it's especially important to read different books about Kissinger to get a more balanced viewpoint because many books about him tend to be slanted in one direction or the other -- more so than most historical figures, in my opinion. He just tends to inspire particularly strong opinions, so here are a few books on him that I've found interesting:

•The Inevitability of Tragedy: Henry Kissinger and His World (BOOK | KINDLE) by Barry Gewen •Kissinger (BOOK | KINDLE) by Walter Isaacson •Kissinger: 1923-1968: The Idealist (BOOK | KINDLE) by Niall Ferguson •Master of the Game: Henry Kissinger and the Art of Middle East Diplomacy (BOOK | KINDLE) by Martin Indyk •Kissinger's Shadow: The Long Reach of America's Most Controversial Statesman (BOOK | KINDLE) by Greg Grandin

There are also some really good dual biographies about Kissinger and Nixon and their foreign policy: •Nixon and Kissinger: Partners in Power (BOOK | KINDLE) by Robert Dallek •The Blood Telegram: Nixon, Kissinger, and a Forgotten Genocide (BOOK | KINDLE) by Gary J. Bass •The Price of Power: Kissinger in the Nixon White House (BOOK | KINDLE) by Seymour M. Hersh •Sideshow: Kissinger, Nixon, and the Destruction of Cambodia by William Shawcross

And I want to also mention these two books, which are heavier reads but really important studies about the international impact of the Nixon/Kissinger foreign policy (and a helpful reminder about American complicity in the overthrow and death of democratically-elected Chilean President Salvador Allende) : •Nixon, Kissinger, and Allende: U.S. Involvement in the 1973 Coup in Chile (BOOK | KINDLE) by Lubna Z. Qureshi •Nixon, Kissinger, and the Shah: The United States and Iran in the Cold War (BOOK | KINDLE) by Roham Alvandi

[bookbagged]

Yet another book haul *trumpets toot toot*

This will be a two-parter because I got a bit, mostly non-fiction.

John Adams, Truman - David McCullough

Henry VIII - J. J. Scarisbrick

The Ancient Mediterranean - Michael Grant

An Unfinished Life: John F. Kennedy 1917 - 1963 - Robert Dallek

A Thousand Days: John F. Kennedy in the White House - Arthur M. Schlesinger

A Bridge Too Far - Cornelius Ryan

George Washington: A Life - Willard Sterne Randall

A Positively Final Appearance - Alec Guinness

[nprbooks]

Photo by Topical Press Agency/Getty Images

“If the Republican Party has spent the last 30 years looking for another Ronald Reagan, the Democrats have spent the last 70 looking for another Franklin D. Roosevelt,” says NPR Politics elder statesman Ron Elving. 

The latter case of longing is likely to intensify with Robert Dallek's new single-volume biography, Franklin D. Roosevelt: A Political Life, a 700-page tome devoted to demonstrating "what great presidential leadership looks like."

Find the rest of Ron’s piece here.

-- Petra

[furryalligator]

Source: http://twitter.com/ezraklein/status/931540815712792576

Presidential historian Robert Dallek: “This administration is a low point in our history…the shamelessness of this administration, the dishonesty, the total indifference to facts, is something I haven’t seen before — at least not this blatant.” https://t.co/Jxs131xHdq

— Ezra Klein (@ezraklein)

November 17, 2017

[deadpresidents]

Have you read Nixon and Kissinger by Robert Dallek? I read it years ago, probably the first book I ever read about Nixon, and I found Nixon so interesting (and in some ways tragic, even with all of the negatives) as a person.

Oh yeah, Nixon is an exceptionally interesting historical figure and a very complex human being. And he had a remarkable life. I mean, we're always going to focus on his failures, on Watergate, and on his negatives -- and deservedly so. But his entire life was fascinating. He was elected Vice President of the United States before he turned 40 years old! He BARELY lost a Presidential election to John F. Kennedy, of all people! His political prospects were believed to be dead after his humiliating loss in the 1962 race for Governor of California and he was written off as a politician, but six years later he was President. And in 1972 he won 49 out 50 states. To fully process the magnitude of that margin of victory, this is what the Electoral College map looked like on Election Day 1972:

It was one of the biggest landslides in American history -- and it still wasn't enough for him.

Nixon's story is so amazing that it almost doesn't matter who is telling it -- tragic, yes, but also infuriating because he had the ability to achieve so much more if he had taken a different path or had a different personality. And Robert Dallek is one of our greatest Presidential historians, so Nixon and Kissinger: Partners in Power (BOOK | KINDLE), is an excellent book and I definitely would recommend checking it out (along with everything else by Dr. Dallek)

[deadpresidents]

Would you reccommend Robert Dallek's biography of JFK?

Yes, I would recommend Robert Dallek’s An Unfinished Life: John F. Kennedy, 1917-1963 (BOOK | KINDLE).

I’d also recommend Dallek’s two volumes on LBJ -- Lone Star Rising: Lyndon Johnson and His Times, 1908-1960 (BOOK | KINDLE) and Flawed Giant: Lyndon Johnson and His Times, 1961-1973 (BOOK | KINDLE) -- which I believe are even better than the JFK book, and not just because I’m an LBJ fanboy.

[moingay1cuonsach]

'Một cuộc đời dang dở' - bí mật về John F. Kennedy

Sách “Một cuộc đời dang dở” của Robert Dallek thu hút độc giả với nhiều bí mật về sức khỏe và chuyện đời cựu tổng thống Mỹ John F. Kennedy. Cuộc đời ngắn ngủi của tổng thống trẻ nhất nước Mỹ – John F. Kennedy (JFK) – luôn được công chúng quan tâm, nhất là sau khi Kennedy bị ám sát vào ngày 22/11/1963. Từ đó, hàng chục phim tài liệu, sách tiểu sử và chân dung về ông ra đời. An Unfinished Life:…

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[bigtickhk]

Review | Searching presidential history for clues to Trump’s rise

Robert Dallek follows the common threads among 20th-century chief executives that led us here.

How Did We Get Here?: From Theodore Roosevelt to Donald Trump by Robert Dallek https://amzn.to/2XXjn0T